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In the News – U.S. ‘concerned’ about N. Korea’s inertia in fighting money-laundering: report

In the News – U.S. ‘concerned’ about N. Korea’s inertia in fighting money-laundering: report

By Lee Chi-dong
WASHINGTON, July 31 (Yonhap) — The U.S. government expressed concern Tuesday about North Korea’s refusal to improve its regulatory system against money laundering and terrorism financing.

“The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) remained concerned about the DPRK’s failure to address the significant deficiencies in its regulatory regimes,” the State Department said in its annual report on terrorism. DPRK is the acronym for North Korea’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

The FATF, based in Paris, is an inter-governmental organization designed to develop policies to combat money laundering and terrorism financing.

The Country Reports on Terrorism 2011 revealed that Pyongyang “engaged the FATF to discuss its anti-money laundering and counterterrorist financing regulatory regimes.”

While the FATF welcomed the initial engagement, the report said, there were no further contacts.

It was among the fresh issues covered by the report on North Korea, with most of others similar to those in previous publications.

The report reiterated that North Korea is “not known to have sponsored any terrorist acts” since the bombing of a Korean Air flight in 1987 in which 115 people were killed.

In 2008, the U.S. removed Pyongyang from the list of state sponsors of terrorism amid some progress in nuclear talks.

On South Korea, the report said the country’s security authorities have maintained close cooperation with their American counterparts in combating terrorism.

It said the FBI conducted a joint investigation with South Korea’s state intelligence agency and police into an international terrorism subject who had relocated to South Korea.

The South Korean authorities “provided information and monitored the subject until he departed the country.”